Traditional jump ropes are usually made from a single length of rope with handles at both ends for the user to grip. The user holds the rope by the handles, swings the rope over his head and then under his feet in a continuous motion, and jumps over the rope every time it passes under his feet. If the user should misjudge when the rope is under his feet, he will trip over the rope and lose the rhythm and timing of the exercise workout. One way to obtain the beneficial aerobic workout associated with a traditional jump rope and yet avoid tripping over a rope is to use a jump rope simulator which does not actually pass a rope under the user's feet. One hand-held unit or two unconnected hand-held units are grasped in the user's hands and rotated while the user skips periodically and rhythmically, without having to actually jump over a physical rope, thus simulating a traditional jump rope exercise.
The use of jump rope simulators for aerobic exercise is known in the prior art. U.S. Pat. No. 5,895,341 to Jones entitled, “Jump Rope Simulator,” discloses a pair of hand-held units each having a handle and a flexible cord with a weight distribution biased toward the free end of the cord and intended to be rotated about an axis extending from the handle in a manner similar to the motions employed when using a standard jump rope. Optional embodiments include handles that contain a battery-powered jump counting device with display and a battery-powered calorie counting device with display.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,524,226 to Kushner entitled, “Exercise Device,” discloses a pair of elastic bands each having a longitudinal handle and a lateral handle. The elastic bands can be joined together with a fastener and used as a single resistive force device for isometric exercises, or the two elastic band units can be held individually, one in each hand of the user, for use as a jump rope simulator. The lengths of the elastic bands may be adjusted through the use of pins that are removably positioned in apertures located in the handle and band.
While these patents disclose an exercise device wherein a user can simulate the motions associated with using a traditional style jump rope, neither of the disclosed constructions allow the user the option of using the jump rope simulator as an individual unit or as a linked device formed by connecting two individual units which results in a device similar in form and function to a conventional jump rope.